Tribal Public Health Broadcast
December 14, 2017
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News
Award
NIHB Recognized by the Public Health Accreditation Board

Stacy A. Bohlen, NIHB Executive Director, Joe Finkbonner, PHAB Board member and Executive Director of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, Karrie Joseph, Deputy Director of Public Health Policy and Programs Dept., NIHB

The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) was recognized during a reception celebrating the Public Health Accreditation Board's (PHAB) 10th Anniversary at the National Press Club in Washington DC on December 6, 2017. 

PHAB was established in 2007 and began the task of creating a set of national standards and accreditation system based on quality improvement.  In 2011, the conception became reality and Tribal, local and state health departments had the opportunity to apply for and receive public health accreditation.  Since that time, over 200 health departments have been accredited serving close to 70 percent of the US population, including all of the people served by the Cherokee Nation Health Services in Oklahoma, which became an accredited health department in August, 2016.

Through PHAB's relationship with NIHB, the Tribal voice was elevated in the creation of the PHAB Standards and Measures, V.1.0 and continues to be an integral part of PHAB's work.  Currently, PHAB is in the process of vetting a Tribal-specific document HERE to supplement the current guidance in the Standards and Measures, V1.5.  The supplement is based on the recommendations of the Tribal Public Health Accreditation Advisory Board, a body that NIHB has been facilitating since 2008.

"The public health work of the Tribes is often not visible or misunderstood," states Stacy A. Bohlen, Executive Director of the National Indian Health Board.  "The Public Health Accreditation Board has been consistent and reliable in their efforts to understand and serve Tribal health departments.  This is essential to supporting sovereign Tribal nations in their efforts to improve the quality of services and ultimately, the health of Native people."

For more information about NIHB's work in promoting Tribal Public Health Accreditation, visit our website HERE

SDPI
Legislative Action Alert: Congressional Leadership Need to Hear from You on Renewing SDPI
 
December 12, 2017 - On September 29, 2017, President Trump signed a 3 month extension for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) into law as part of the Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act ( H.R. 3823). The program is now set to expire on December 31, 2017. Congress must act immediately so this life-saving program can continue in 301 Tribal communities across the country.
 
Contact Congressional Leadership Today
Tribal leaders, members, and SDPI allies, should contact Congressional leadership immediately to urge them to focus on long-term renewal of SDPI. Both Senate and House leadership are key because they must schedule time for SDPI-related legislation to be considered as soon as possible.
 
Contact the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Members of Congress. Once connected, urge your Members to contact Congressional leadership about this important issue. You can also look up your Representatives HERE  and your Senators HERE
 
Key messages:
Congress should include long-term renewal of the Special Diabetes Program in any end-of-year continuing resolution or legislative package.
Long-term renewal is needed to ensure continuation of care, staff retention, and overall program stability.
Senate and House leadership should act immediately to renew SDPI to ensure that diabetes care is not disrupted for thousands of Tribal members.

Additional tools:

Use these SDPI Talking Points for additional information on how SDPI is transforming lives in Indian Country

Send a letter supporting SDPI using this Letter Template
 
If you have questions or need further help with your advocacy efforts, please contact Caitrin Shuy, Director of Congressional Relations, at cshuy@nihb.org.

comments
4th National Climate Assessment (NCA4) Seeking Public Comments 
Comment period open through Sunday, January 31, 2018

The US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) was established in 1989 and is mandated by Congress to "develop and coordinate 'a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.'" The National Climate Assessment is a quadrennial assessment produced by the USGCRP. 

For people interested in Tribal climate health, NCA4 Chapters 14 (Human Health) and Chapter 15 (Tribal and Indigenous Communities) may be of particular interest. Learn more HERE or submit comments HERE. NIHB encourages Tribes to consider adding their voices to represent their community interests on this important topic. 

People are also invited to comment specifically on a PDF and interactive map for the National Climate Assessment Indigenous Peoples Chapter - Resilience Actions Map. Learn more HERE
Funding and Opportunities
PHA
Support for Tribal Accreditation Readiness and Success (STARS) in Public Health: Funding Opportunity
Applications due Friday, January 5, 2018 at 8:00 pm ET

Seven Directions: Indigenous Voices for Public Health  has announced a call for proposals for the STARS in public health grant.  The initiative will offer up to $20,000 in funding for up to six Tribes to promote public health accreditation readiness. The grantees will receive capacity building assistance from Seven Directions.


Read the call for proposals  HERE

NLAPH
Applications for the National Leadership Academy for the Public's Health 2018 Cohort
Applications due Friday, January 12th, 2018 at 8:00 pm ET

The National Leadership Academy for the Public's Health (NLAPH) began in 2011 to provide training to four-person multi-sector teams from across the country to advance their leadership skills and achieve health equity in their community. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the one-year program uses an experiential learning process that includes webinars, a multi-day retreat, coaching support, peer networking, and an applied population health project.

The NLAPH states "Our approach to transforming communities into healthier environments emphasizes multi-sector leadership development.  By identifying leadership capabilities that individuals and communities can take to improve their health, and then scaling those measures to impact a greater number of people, we aim to build leadership capacity and help disparate sectors work together and create healthy communities."
Learn more and apply  HERE
 
rural
Understanding Vaccination Coverage in Rural Areas 
Applications due Tuesday, February 13, 2018

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seeks to get a better understanding of the factors that contribute to disparities in vaccination rates between rural and urban adolescents and make an effort to improve vaccination coverage in rural areas.  State, local and Tribal governments, public and private colleges and universities and non-profit organizations are among those eligible to apply for funding of up to $350,000 per year for a three-year project with a special emphasis on the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine. For more information click   HERE

florida
Submit Your Public Health Work or Research to the University of South Florida's Social Marketing Conference
Abstracts due Tuesday, March 6, 2018

The University of South Florida's Social Marketing Conference call for abstracts states, "In recent years social marketing has been successfully used in many fields including public health, healthcare, environmental studies, engineering, education, and not-for-profit management." Topics may include: 
  • "Applications of social marketing strategies that address national and international social objectives, promote social marketing within one's own agency, demonstrate sustainability and/or self-sufficiency of social marketing programs, or use innovative methods to understand consumer needs and wants are of particular interest." 
  • "Use of social marketing to ameliorate social problems and issues of special populations" 
  • "Evaluation of social marketing programs and strategies" 
  • "Social marketing approaches to define health problems and inequities" 
  • "Testing solutions to public health and other community problems" 
  • "Changing health and social practices in school and community settings" 
  • "Training and education in social marketing" 
Learn more or submit an abstract HERE
Resources
colorectal
Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening for American Indians and Alaska Natives: Meeting Report

The American Cancer Society and National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable co-sponsored a meeting to discuss increasing colorectal cancer screening in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/IN) communities on April 25th, 2016.  A new meeting report is available.  This report provides an overview of the burden of colorectal cancer in AI/AN communities, summarizes the meeting presentations and discussions, and presents the participant's collaborative "framework for change" tool that identifies goals, priority tactics, barriers, and potential communities of solution and roles.

 
The website also features a recorded webinar from November 28th, 2017 that discusses opportunities and barriers related to delivering quality colorectal cancer screening and follow-up care in health care settings serving AI/AN communities.

Click HERE to read the report.

diabetes
IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention Offers Two New Guides for Diabetes Programs

The Indian Health Service (IHS) Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention (DDTP) is offering two new guides for diabetes programs. 

Integrating Case Management Into Your Practice
can be used to assist you in meeting the health needs of individuals in your clinic and community diabetes programs. 

Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) Into Your Practice
assists you in exploring strategies and tools to enhance DSMES in your diabetes program.  

View both guides, as well as additional diabetes educator tools from DDTP HERE

NREPP
SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices Learning Center
 
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has re-designed their National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) Learning Center.  The Learning Center offers resources for developing, implementing, and sustaining culture- centered and evidence-based programs and practices.

SAMHSA recognizes that there is emerging evidence for many culture centered practices, which are defined as practices that are informed and guided by the social structures and cultural beliefs of the population of focus.  SAMSHA provides case studies on three innovative programs developed by Tribes that have improved public health in AI/AN communities.  

The Learning Center offers resources for evaluating culture-centered practices outside of the traditional evidence-based evaluation criteria, and reminds policymakers and funding agencies to consider that evidence-based programs are not always practical, culturally appropriate, or the best practice.  Instead, it is important to understand practice-based evidence which encourages documenting the effectiveness of evidence gathered in the field for community practices.

The Learning Center also offers resources for developing, implementing, and maintaining culture-centered and evidence based programs and practices.

View the new SAMHSA NREPP Learning Center HERE

Read examples of AI/AN culture-centered practices HERE

personalstories


Read about the project  HERE and be sure to check out Elk Sage's personal story HERE. Elk Sage runs the Northern Arapaho Suicide Prevention Program on Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among American Indians/Alaska Natives who die between the ages of 10-34 years. [For suicide help, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline anytime at 800-273-8255.] 

"We all have the ability to be Health Equity Change Makers," the website encourages. "We know there are thousands of powerful and inspiring stories in every community [and] [OMH] invites you to share your stories of change."  Email OMH to share your story or visit the Health Equity Change Makers toolkit to learn more about helping your community. 

HDpulse
HDPULSE: An Ecosystem of Health Disparities and Minority Health Resources


"The Data Portal houses data collected from public health surveillance systems, published reports, and public use files" and is intended to be easy to work with. The Intervention Portal "will give users a way to submit, code, find, sort, and download interventions and resources related to minority health and health disparities, such as community-based programs or published studies. The Intervention Portal will also help people design, implement, and evaluate evidence-based interventions to improve minority health and health disparities." 


Check out the resources HERE
Events
disparity
Understanding Health Disparities in Rural America - Insights from the CDC MMWR Rural Health Series 
Monday, December 18, 2017 at 2:00 pm ET

Much of the research on rural health disparities in rural areas examines disparities between rural and urban communities, with fewer studies on disparities within rural communities.  Join researchers from the CMS Office of Minority Health and CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Equity as they provide an overview of racial and ethnic health disparities in rural communities examined in the latest report from the MMWR Rural Health Series. CMS and CDC will be joined by two grantees from FORHP's Rural Health Outreach Program who will share how they are working to address racial and ethnic disparities in their communities. The presentation will also provide resources to help improve the quality of care provided to all individuals, reduce disparities, and achieve health equity.


Obesityweb
IHS Clinical Rounds Webinar Series, Treating Obesity: One Size Doesn't Fit All
Thursday, December 21, 2017 from 12:00-1:00 pm ET

The Indian Health Services is hosting a webinar for public health professionals on managing the obesity epidemic in Tribal Country. The webinar will talk about the limited resources for managing the epidemic of obesity in Tribal populations, treatments, and the importance of allowing patients to understand all aspects of interactions with public health professionals.

Register for the webinar  HERE
TALC
Tribal Accreditation Learning Community- NIHB Webinar
Friday, January 12, 2018 from 2:00-3:00 pm ET


The January webinar will feature the topic "Preparing for a Site Visit".
Ho- Chunk Nation and Pascua Yaqui Tribe recently began the process of formally applying for PHAB accreditation, and will both be hosting a site visit this grant- year.  They will be offering insight on how to prepare for a site-visit, and share how they reached this point in their accreditation efforts.

For more information about TALC, and to view past webinars, click HERE

To join this webinar, click HERE

ComFood
In this final webinar of a four-part #CommunityFood series featuring emerging trends and innovations highlighted in "From the Ground Up - Inspiring Community-based Food System Innovations," a report commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and produced by the Wallace Center, we'll explore a variety of local, regional and national networks that are weaving connections and building capacity in food systems across the United States. The Wallace Center will share its own experience facilitating the National Good Food Network and announce the launch of a new national initiative to support emerging and existing leaders of community-based food systems organizations via a Food Systems Leadership Network. 

Register   HERE

Evaluation opioid
 
The American Indian and Alaska Native National Partnership for Action Caucus is hosting a webinar about the opioid epidemic in the Chickasaw Nation

The webinar description states, "Define Your Direction is a comprehensive prescription opioid abuse prevention movement created by the Chickasaw Nation using Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Southern Plains Tribal Health Board Funding. In 2014, Oklahoma ranked 10th in the nation for drug overdose deaths. From 2007 to 2015, more than 5,900 Oklahomans died of unintentional poisonings, with 75% of all those deaths involving at least one prescription opioid. American Indians in Oklahoma have a higher unintentional poisoning death rate than any other racial or ethnic group in the state. Define Your Direction utilizes multiple strategies aimed at increasing awareness, reducing access to drugs and alcohol, and preventing overdose deaths. The webinar, presented by the Office of Minority Health National Partnership for Action, will highlight the movement's various components, challenges experienced during its development and implementation phases, and successes." 

Learn more or register for the webinar  HERE

grocery
National Rural Grocery Summit
Monday to Tuesday, June 25-26, 2018, Manhattan, KS
 
Because the loss of a rural grocery store threatens the health of local citizens and the very existence of that community, Kansas State University and a broad range of partners are working to assist rural communities and their grocery stores. Toward that goal, we are proud to announce that on June 25-26, 2018 we will host the Fifth National Rural Grocery Summit at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manhattan, Kansas. At the Fifth National Rural Grocery Summit, June 25-26 in Manhattan, KS, store owners, citizen leaders, food suppliers, academic researchers, policy makers, and funders will gather to talk with one another about how best to sustain this critical piece of community infrastructure and improve the health of rural citizens.  

More information: HERE